The
People Go Along The Shore At Night With Lanterns And Other Lights, Seeking
The Tracks Which The Turtle Leaves In The Sand, Which They Follow Till
They Find The Animal, Which Being Tired With The Exertion, Sleeps So
Soundly As Not To Waken On Their Approach.
Having found a turtle it is
turned on its back, and without doing any more harm they go on to seek
more, which are treated in the same manner.
Having got as many as they
think fit, they come back in the morning to choose those they like best,
as they cannot possibly recover their feet when once turned over. They
then carry off such as they think fit, turning up the smaller ones upon
their belly and allowing them to go away. The island being very dry and
barren, without either trees or springs, the wretched sick inhabitants
have no other sustenance, and are entirely without employment, and they
are necessitated to drink of the thick and brackish water of certain wells,
there being none else to be found.
Besides the sick, the only inhabitants of the island consisted of the man
who had the charge and four more, and their only employment was to kill
and salt goats to be sent to Portugal. There were such multitudes of goats
on the island, all derived from eight left there originally, that some
years they killed to the value of three or four thousand ducats. The
proprietor was Roderick Alfonzo, secretary of the customs to the king of
Portugal, by whom the original stock of goats had been carried to this
place.
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